MalbecG37S

I had my wife's G at the dealer today for the power steering issue (ITB12035). The dealer (surprisingly?) was able to confirm the issue quickly and replaced the reservoir. Good job Grubbs.

Since the repair was going to take a good part of the day - they gave me a loaner to use. I asked if they had any Q50's - and they did. It did not have NAV - and it luckily did not have DAS. My impressions:

- the car is quieter. Road noise is more 'hushed', engine sound is more subtle and sounds more 'refined'.
- performance wasn't significantly better or worse than my G's. The Q did seem to be tuned differently - like the accelerator pedal sensitivity had been reduced. It felt a bit slower off the line - but also did not have the 'on/off' feeling that the G has much of the time.
- seats - the standard seats did feel a bit more comfy, a bit larger (overall the car felt wider)
- the car had the 'spare tire option' - never saw the tire, but the trunk load floor was HIGH. Interesting...
- the electronics - I may be a bit nit-picky, but I think they missed the boat. The 3 separate panels could be pulled together better. At one point - the radio station song title was being displayed on the center instrument cluster panel, the upper dash panel, and the lower dash panel. Ummm - OK - like I really REALLY needed to know the name of the song! But the overall feeling I had was that they were disjointed...they could have created a more cohesive package. Having said that - that may only be a couple of software updates away...
- steering - not noticeably different than my wife's G. (non-S)
- my final comment is hard to put into words. The G feels more 'pure' from a design standpoint. The Q has some embellishments that feels 'gimmicky'. The rings around the speedo & tach have what looks like plastic 'wings'? Some exterior items feel the same. I will say that the front looks wide & low with the LED lights accenting it well...somewhat unique look...not a 'me too' look.

Anyway - I only had the Q for a few hours - the above is my .02 cents. Right now - I'm not sure if I would give my G for the Q. It could grow on me.

Zack342

iTrader: (2)

I have had one for the last 3 weeks. they really went backward on this one.

Rochester

iTrader: (8)

Last year I test drove the Q50S. Your comparison is very similar to the reaction I had comparing the Q50S to my 6MT Sedan.

Basically, I have the better car. The Q was a forgettable drive.

MalbecG37S

One thing the experience does have me thinking...has anyone tried to 'quiet' the G? Some dyna-mat under the back deck...under the carpeting...etc? Any success in doing such?

Maybe it is because of all the concrete roads we have here in DFW area - but tire noise is somewhat pronounced in the G...

And no - I'm not looking for 'Lexus quiet'...

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

Haven't driven one and probably won't. No 6mt, no care.

dragion

iTrader: (2)

I agree with everything...

I had a Q50 as a loaner last week while I had my oil changed & tires rotated/balanced.
They couldn't do an alignment due to my "lowering kit"...so they say.

Well, I find that the Q50 is definitely a step back from my G37xS...was so glad to get back into my G.

Granted that I have some modifications done, but the Q50 seemed so mild even compared to the stock G37.
The Q50 performance was sub par compared to my G37 and I'm not sure if it has to do with the Mishimoto/aFe combo, but it was lacking...big time!

Handling was another let down...felt like a plush bucket.
I find the physical appearance is so mis-matched...front is way too aggressive compared to the rear...but I do like the headlights/fogs with the LEDs.
My daughter likes the rear seats better though..."more comfortable" she said.

In my book...they can keep the Q!
My G is a keeper!

Chris11LE

Funny thing is I did a comparison when I had a Q for a day. Wrote a one day long thread on the Q50 forum and came to similar conclusions as you all did: its nice, but not as nice as I would have hoped or was lead to believe.

The people on the Q forum were none to pleased with my diagnosis. I was very fair on my ratings, there were a few things I gave the Q credit for vs the G.

My biggest gripe was the interior wasnt as nice as I had hoped it would be. Its definitely better than the G, but not enough to make me buy the car. I didnt have a Sport model loaner so I didnt get to try out the new seats so maybe those are better, I just dont know.

The transmission was definitely acting more "normal" compared to the one in my G. Still havent been able to find out if they made a hardware revision, software revision, or both. In Sport mode, though, it didnt feel any different than regular mode. As "confused" as the 7AT gets in the G, I can tell DS Mode is at least a little different because the RPMs bump up if you shift into it at speed.

I didnt play with inTouch all that much....my phone connected to it pretty easily, but that happens the same on my G too. I found a few functions pretty confusing to get to...I forget exactly what but it was a common function but for the life of me I couldnt figure out how to do it.

The car I had came with spare tire package. Man does that kind of kill the usefulness of the trunk. I know they can call "high lift gate floor" a feature, but the reality is it just loses space. Like, I couldnt fit a bag full of groceries standing up without crushing it with the trunk lid.

Overall, its not a bad car. My wife would probably love it, she has different wants/needs from her cars than I do. I happen to "know someone" who mentioned staying away from it for a year or two, while they figure out all the bugs. DAS, inTouch, etc.....they added a lot of "new to Infiniti" stuff, so its going to take some time to get them up to normal Infiniti level quality.

MalbecG37S

Agreed that the Sport mode was not as different from 'normal' as in the G. Mostly - it seemed to hold the higher gears longer...but didn't feel that different in 1st/2nd to me. Maybe it was just me...

And - yes, my wife had positive comments about the G. Quieter, nicer interior, front LEDs, etc. Oh - and the complete absence of rattles in the loaner - which had over 10k hard earned miles - that just made it feel even more quiet.

nissanlvr

I agree almost completely with your conclusions, MalbecG37S.

I don't think the Q50 is significantly better or worse than the G37. It's a bit more refined, the tranny feels smoother, and the interior materials seem to be of higher quality than the G. The new tech is nice, but InTouch is not as well-done as some other systems. As you said, it just feels a bit disjointed. Otherwise, it feels like a similar car, just with newer styling. I like the Q50 a lot but it doesn't wow me.

'11G37S

iTrader: (4)

Whenever I drop my car off at the dealership I request a Q50 because 1. its better than the base G37x that is offered, and 2. to remind me why I don't want one. I've said it before and I will continue to say it until they fix a lot of the smaller problems, there is a lot of potential there but to me it feels like they rushed production. Fit and finish seems to be better than the G, but the small things like resetting the mpg can be difficult. I took a trip to see my grandmother in my service loaner and was curious to see if the mpg was better than my G and it literally took me almost 10 minutes to figure out how to reset the average mpg in the cluster. Instead of being able to reset it b toggling through the different options in the cluster like you can with the G, you have to go through the intouch system under setting or another sub menu.

Every time I get in one it will freeze my iPod for some unknown reason.

I like the aggressive styling in the front, and even more so with the sport models, but the rear is way too bland.

Something that has kind of bothered me since I noticed it is that the map lights are LED, yet the rear passenger lights are the exact same ones that are in our G's. At least be consistent throughout the entire vehicle, don't put LEDs in the front but then put filament bulbs in the rear to save on costs.

The Bose system seems to be better than the one in the G, but as a technician pointed out to me it could be that the Q has a better amp.

I have yet to get the Q to be able to rev match downshift in sport mode.

I do think that it is pretty cool that the Q will read your texts aloud if you want it to, but I would probably never use the feature.

As others have said, the trunk is way too small. I couldn't even get my laundry basket in there. I couldn't imagine having the hybrid version with the batteries taking up even more of the space in the trunk.

I highly doubt I would buy one, I would rather have a M56S/Q70 5.6S or even if they make the Q70L 5.6S. That would be the only other Infiniti I would buy at this point, and god forbid if they do decide to re-badge the Juke with a Infiniti badge.

brizey

I had a loaner on Friday (in DFW, too. I went to Sewell). I noticed the goofy wings around the speedo. Someone at Infiniti design missed the form > decoration class at art school. Nothing is dumber than a machine with decorations (which why I will never buy a car with wood unless there is no option to delete it--its decoration, and I am a dude. Feels like wearing makeup.)

I don't think it feels wider...I think the cowl is about 3 inches higher.

The center console is better and more solid.

I noticed the smaller trunk, too. Don't forget they had to design for a hybrid, and apparently $50K plus is not enough to warrant separate trunk designs.

Better than the Bose is the G is damned by faint praise.

The infotainment stuff was pretty lackluster. Time to let Google/Apple/Microsoft do it.

The Q had less road noise, but a sport with worn out tires is louder than a Big Wheel in gravel.

Oh, and one should not write one of these without saying "the steering sucks".

Chris11LE

AFAIK the trunk size (specifically the really high floor) is because of the spare tire package. If you dont get that option, you have a pretty spacious trunk for the segment

You'll lose a little for hybrid but I think its towards the backseat which is easer to live with than lifting the whole floor 5" to put a spare in.

flipmode007

I brought my g37xs to the dealer ship for the same issue with the power steering leaking, they lend me the Qx50 for the day. After driving the Qx50 on DS mode, tks god I told them about the rough down shifting while driving the g37 on the DS mode, maybe they can update it

I totally agree with with you after driving the Q50, Q60 as loaner I was glad to be back in the G also, definitely felt sportier.

_Invictus

Thanks for that review man. I was wondering if how it was compared to the G series.


I'm glad they changed it to the Q....If they made it a "G39", they could've scarred the G series like the RX-8 did the RX-7.

VeXeD

Good point!